


At the start of days

by Tikor



Series: Lunar oral history long before the wolf [1]
Category: Exalted
Genre: Fanfiction, Gen, Podfic & Podficced Works, Podfic Length: 0-10 Minutes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-25
Updated: 2016-06-25
Packaged: 2018-07-18 06:08:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7302640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tikor/pseuds/Tikor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The sun the moon and the stars find their places in the world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	At the start of days

**Author's Note:**

> I've done a reading of the first bit. Seeing how this podfic posting thing works...
> 
> Apologies for any inconvenience, please comment if it doesn't play.
> 
>  
> 
> [The story told](http://lytek.org/tikor/At%20the%20start%20of%20days.ogg)

Long before the wolf and the golden woman and even the stars there was the sun and the moon at the start of days. For many days after the start of days the sun and the moon did not see each other, for they were on opposite sides of the sky as it spun around Creation. But the moon was not so careful to keep the same schedule as the sun, she liked to try new things. One day, they met when the moon, ever seeking a new path, crossed before the sun. When they met this first time they looked at one another and asked "Which of us came first?" The sun said that he was the first, for he held the likeness of the green light that had once filled the sky in the time even before the cycle of days. The moon said she was first because she had loved the world and been with the world at the very beginning, and could anything be before the world? For many days they argued, chasing one another across the heavens. Some of those days were short and some very long. All of Creation was confused by the fighting. The sun finally tired of fighting the moon and said "I will say I came first so that none will fight like we have." The moon, equally tired, said "I will say that you came first so long as I can also say that I came first when it pleases me." This confused the sun, but he did not press the matter for he was tired of fighting, and he could tell all the others that he came first. After that day instead of fighting the sun and the moon danced and played.

While the sun and the moon danced about the heavens an unshaped thing saw them. He said to himself "I do not like their dance, so I will break it down into nothing." He raised his weapon and waved it at the world and the sun and the moon that danced atop it. The sun raised his shield and spear accepting the challenge. The sun did battle with the unshaped. At first he was victorious, but seeing this the unshaped ran and hid. The moon found him, for no one is better at hiding than the moon, and showed the sun the way. Again the sun was victorious over him, and again the unshaped ran and hid. This went on again and again until the unshaped had run and hid beyond the edges of the world. The moon said to the sun, "That thing will be back," for she knew the nature of shiftless things. The sun said to the moon, "I will stand guard," for once the sun started to do a thing he made sure it was done.

And thus for years and years did the sun stand guard at the edge of the world. He rode his mighty chariot in a circuit, ever vigilant. The moon asked the sun to dance and fight and play with her like they once did but he did not. He followed the same patrol around the world every day. And every day the unshaped was driven back from the world.

After many long years, the sun saw on his many trips across the world the place where the makers of all things reveled in their leisure. Seeing this he wearied of his patrol, for though he often battled the unshaped they never truly came close to stopping the cycle of days or unmaking the world. He said to himself "I will seat myself at the Games of Divinity and take rest from my toil."

The sun had decided and so he put his all into the task. He bid his chariot patrol the world without him for after many battles its deadly flames were reminder enough to keep the unshaped at bay. The moon saw him leave and asked "Does this mean we will dance and fight and play as we once did?" The sun said, "Yes, it does, but first we must make children for the world so that the unshaped are held at bay while we are gone." The moon saw the sun would not give up on any task he started, and liked the idea of children who would delight her with surprises, so she agreed. All five stars of the sky had seen this day before it had come and said to the sun and the moon, "Our children will guide the world alongside yours." The sun was pleased, and he and the moon and the stars made many children.

The moon looked down and saw a golden woman walking Creation with the wolf, and was pleased. The stars saw the heavens filled with little lights and were pleased. The sun's eyes did not see his children. The sun's gaze was ever on the makers of all things in their revelry, for he had not yet done what he had set out to do. He opened the door to the Games of Divinity and told those gathered there, "I will be joining you now."

The makers of all things laughed at him. They told him to go away, that the games would never be his. The sun refused, so they kicked him out. He had never had his will refused before. The sun became angry. He burned the things the makers had made in his anger. The makers, in turn, burned his children and all he loved, including the moon and the stars and their children. This continued for some time as the makers made more things and the sun and the moon and the stars made more children and all were burned in the fighting. The moon made a copy of herself and set it in the sky so that she would not feel the maker's terrible fire. The stars became fire itself for a time so that they would not be hurt by the maker's wrath. With all the burning the very core of the world was worried she would be unmade. The moon came to the core of the world and said, "The sun will win this battle, for he has proven his strength to me before, but it may not be before you are destroyed." The core of the world asked what she could do to stop this fate. The moon said, "Help me help him, for the love we have together, and we may triumph before the flames eat too much."

So the world bid her dragons to make children as the sun and the moon and the stars had. Once they had an army of little dragons, the moon led her children and the sun's children and the stars' children and the little dragons to secret places like she had once led the sun to the unshaped thing. In the secret places were the maker's many souls. The moon taught her children and the sun's children and the star's children and all the little dragons how to do the impossible, that is, how to kill the maker's souls who had not made a death for themselves. Her children and the sun's children and the stars' children and the little dragons saw victory over the makers of all things. Some were killed and others, given fear by this, surrendered and were locked away. She said to the sun, "That was a fun dance." The sun said, "For the help you gave me, please join me in the Games of Divinity, moon and stars." The moon had never played the games, so she accepted to see a new thing. The stars said to the sun, "We knew you would ask. Know that we accept." The core of the world bid her dragons to rest, for she was simply glad that the fighting was over. The core of the world did not join the games that hung over the ashes of her brothers and sisters, for it brought her sorrow. Instead she traveled far beyond the edge of the world to see what she could find there.

And so it was that the makers were defeated, that the sun and the moon and the stars left the world to play the Games of Divinity and the dragons slept. They left behind their chariot and their copy and their children. And the unshaped still roam beyond the edges of the world. The sun and the moon and the stars and the very core of the world depend on us to keep them out.


End file.
